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The Three Births of Daoloth #1
The Searching Dead
1952. On a school trip to France teenager Dominic Sheldrake begins to suspect his teacher Christian Noble has reasons to be there as secret as they're strange. Meanwhile a widowed neighbour joins a church that puts you in touch with your dead relatives, who prove much harder to get rid of. As Dominic and his friends Roberta and Jim investigate, they can’t suspect how much larger and more terrible the link between these mysteries will become. A monstrous discovery beneath a church only hints at terrors that are poised to engulf the world as the trilogy brings us to the present day…
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2016
88 people are currently reading
1554 people want to read
About the author
Ramsey Campbell
847 books1,586 followersRamsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews
February 14, 2021
Set in post-war Liverpool, a young man and his two best friends develop concerns about a teacher at their religious school. Soon, the school's headmaster and the parents of the children develop concerns as well. Is this is a case of bored teenagers with overactive imaginations, or are the kids on to something? You'll have to read this to find out!
The post-war setting almost became a character itself here. Even though I was born in a city that has a famous armory, I've never really pictured in my head what happens to cities and towns when they're blitzed and bombarded as they were during WWII. I never thought about how long it takes for municipalities to recover, for buildings to be rebuilt, or the fact that some never are.
The coming of age part of the story was multifaceted because not only did we have a very young man, a good man to root for, but we also knew that everything his parents and his structure had taught him throughout life, was now being questioned, up to and including his religion. It made me remember going through the same kinds of thoughts and ideas when I was that age.
The friendships here were honest portrayals, I thought, even though we already knew how they would likely end.
Lastly, though, oooh that evil Mr. Noble...what was he really up to? What was that down in the cellar of his "church?" Isn't it the worst when no one believes your suspicions? Or maybe it's the worst when your suspicions come true, and the target of your suspicions knows that YOU know? What happens then? I'm saying nothing more than I'm going to be needing that next book ASAP please!
*Thank you to Flame Tree Press for the paperback ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*
The post-war setting almost became a character itself here. Even though I was born in a city that has a famous armory, I've never really pictured in my head what happens to cities and towns when they're blitzed and bombarded as they were during WWII. I never thought about how long it takes for municipalities to recover, for buildings to be rebuilt, or the fact that some never are.
The coming of age part of the story was multifaceted because not only did we have a very young man, a good man to root for, but we also knew that everything his parents and his structure had taught him throughout life, was now being questioned, up to and including his religion. It made me remember going through the same kinds of thoughts and ideas when I was that age.
The friendships here were honest portrayals, I thought, even though we already knew how they would likely end.
Lastly, though, oooh that evil Mr. Noble...what was he really up to? What was that down in the cellar of his "church?" Isn't it the worst when no one believes your suspicions? Or maybe it's the worst when your suspicions come true, and the target of your suspicions knows that YOU know? What happens then? I'm saying nothing more than I'm going to be needing that next book ASAP please!
*Thank you to Flame Tree Press for the paperback ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*
November 6, 2021
synopsis: precocious lad learns a schoolteacher has a hankering for summoning the dead
A gentleman here on Goodreads, in a positive review of this book, said of Campbell: one of his most endearing traits as a writer is his stolid reliability: you know that what you're about to read won't be the most experimental or groundbreaking thing...
Now that is a mindboggling comment! One wonders if this gentleman has actually read much of Campbell, because surely two of the author's most endearing traits are his ability to shift his style radically throughout his novels and his frequent insistence on getting so deep into his unreliable protagonists' perspectives that the reader is left adrift in the narrative, unsure what is truth or illusion. Campbell's idiosyncratic style(s) is exactly why many readers of traditional horror find him intolerably literary, or sometimes just too damn confusing. This is never a reliably predictable writer and far from a "stolid" one either LOLOLOL
I mention all that not to bash the clueless (although there is joy to be had in that), but because unlike any other Campbell novel I've read, this one sticks out because it is actually, well, stolid. And I appreciated that. Except for some journal entries written by a drolly pretentious and misanthropic necromancer, Campbell doesn't engage in any stylistic experiments or POV impressionism in this book because it is in many ways an autobiographical story. To do so would have been unnecessarily distancing. And so the details are lived-in, sometimes granular. 1950s Liverpool is its own character. A drab, gray, dully conformist character, but a living breathing character nonetheless. This is a richly detailed novel and, surprisingly, mainly an undramatic one. It has a contemplative remove as well, due to its use of 1st person simple past. (Thanks Dan for pointing that out.) The writing has its many moments of sinister ambiguity and creeping dread, but it is also straightforward in its careful study of a boy's life at home, at school, with friends, when trying to navigate the adults in his life, when trying (occasionally) to solve strange mysteries.
The book's stolidity also creates a great contrast to that actual strangeness. This is in some ways a reconfiguring of H.P. Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and I loved how the realism of the milieu made the disturbing things occurring feel like they were in the corners and shadows of the boy's life, rather than front & center. The mysteries and otherworldly horrors are often thought about, but not so often viscerally experienced. Our protagonist is central to the restricting of a certain arrogant sorcerer's activities, but unlike many similar stories, this is not a battle of life or death for him. It is an unnerving mystery that he is concerned about, because he is a community-minded lad and a budding writer. And so only small, mundane, often unsuccessful steps are taken to solve this mystery and curtail certain practices. Until at last he does one very big thing; that action felt all the more ferocious because until then, our moody little hero has been content to stay in the background, spying and wondering why and making sneaky plans with his friends, and doing little else. Which all felt very real to me. And he only takes action because he's extremely pissed off at his friends having a side-romance - it puts him in a jealous lather and he's just gotta break something. The kid acts like an actual kid.
creepiest moments: whenever that freaky toddler opened her mouth and talked like a condescending adult who is basically telling people There's nothing to see here, mind your own business, be on your way, I'm just a lil' baby after all...
A gentleman here on Goodreads, in a positive review of this book, said of Campbell: one of his most endearing traits as a writer is his stolid reliability: you know that what you're about to read won't be the most experimental or groundbreaking thing...
Now that is a mindboggling comment! One wonders if this gentleman has actually read much of Campbell, because surely two of the author's most endearing traits are his ability to shift his style radically throughout his novels and his frequent insistence on getting so deep into his unreliable protagonists' perspectives that the reader is left adrift in the narrative, unsure what is truth or illusion. Campbell's idiosyncratic style(s) is exactly why many readers of traditional horror find him intolerably literary, or sometimes just too damn confusing. This is never a reliably predictable writer and far from a "stolid" one either LOLOLOL
I mention all that not to bash the clueless (although there is joy to be had in that), but because unlike any other Campbell novel I've read, this one sticks out because it is actually, well, stolid. And I appreciated that. Except for some journal entries written by a drolly pretentious and misanthropic necromancer, Campbell doesn't engage in any stylistic experiments or POV impressionism in this book because it is in many ways an autobiographical story. To do so would have been unnecessarily distancing. And so the details are lived-in, sometimes granular. 1950s Liverpool is its own character. A drab, gray, dully conformist character, but a living breathing character nonetheless. This is a richly detailed novel and, surprisingly, mainly an undramatic one. It has a contemplative remove as well, due to its use of 1st person simple past. (Thanks Dan for pointing that out.) The writing has its many moments of sinister ambiguity and creeping dread, but it is also straightforward in its careful study of a boy's life at home, at school, with friends, when trying to navigate the adults in his life, when trying (occasionally) to solve strange mysteries.
The book's stolidity also creates a great contrast to that actual strangeness. This is in some ways a reconfiguring of H.P. Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and I loved how the realism of the milieu made the disturbing things occurring feel like they were in the corners and shadows of the boy's life, rather than front & center. The mysteries and otherworldly horrors are often thought about, but not so often viscerally experienced. Our protagonist is central to the restricting of a certain arrogant sorcerer's activities, but unlike many similar stories, this is not a battle of life or death for him. It is an unnerving mystery that he is concerned about, because he is a community-minded lad and a budding writer. And so only small, mundane, often unsuccessful steps are taken to solve this mystery and curtail certain practices. Until at last he does one very big thing; that action felt all the more ferocious because until then, our moody little hero has been content to stay in the background, spying and wondering why and making sneaky plans with his friends, and doing little else. Which all felt very real to me. And he only takes action because he's extremely pissed off at his friends having a side-romance - it puts him in a jealous lather and he's just gotta break something. The kid acts like an actual kid.
creepiest moments: whenever that freaky toddler opened her mouth and talked like a condescending adult who is basically telling people There's nothing to see here, mind your own business, be on your way, I'm just a lil' baby after all...
October 2, 2016
Over 25 years ago Campbell wrote a book called MIDNIGHT SUN, which he now, with typical humility, describes as an “honourable failure”. Would that the rest of us could pen such failures! I know I’m not alone in considering that novel a very fine contribution to the field of cosmic horror, but perhaps we should be happy that the author is never satisfied with his stuff and always aims higher.
In interviews around that time, Campbell claims that “maybe in another 20 years” he’ll have “another go” at scaling the peaks ascended by Lovecraft and Blackwood. Well, he’s done so already in several works – THE DARKEST PART OF THE WOODS (2003) and “The Last Revelation of Gla’aki” (2013), both considerable successes – but when I heard that he’d chosen to write a trilogy of novels focusing exclusively on a Mythos theme, I grew more than a little excited.
And so here we have the first entry in what promises to be Campbell’s most ambitious project yet. I understand that these three books will focus on different stages of their narrator’s life, documenting the decades in which Campbell himself has lived and worked. This opening piece is set in the 1950s, in the author’s native Liverpool, and anyone who’s read a little about Campbell’s youth will realise that quite a bit of this (with significant exceptions; for instance, the narrator’s parents appear rather less fractious than Campbell’s own were) is autobiographical.
Campbell’s post-WWII Liverpool is packed with evocative details, from bomb-damaged downtown property to cinemas in the city centre, from adverts saturating high streets to daily life at a Catholic school. Scenes in which the narrator’s juvenile self attends classes, hangs out with friends, and negotiates an ever-perplexing adult world possess an air of fond nostalgia, something which feels quite new in Campbell’s work. Indeed, the tone of this book put me firmly in mind of King’s IT and other works of that stripe.
But it’s not only the minutiae of ’50s English city life under scrutiny here; Campbell also explores social developments of the era, with much reference to international conflicts, gender politics, the resilience of religion under attack by new sciences, Trade Unions, and much more. This novel, fundamentally the intimate tale of a boy entangled in the activities of his decidedly sinister schoolteacher, has a broader dimension which hints at all the cosmic material which will surely be explored in later volumes.
Such rich, detailed world-building lends the book intricacy and completeness. The narrator’s early life is depicted with merciless attention to the circumstances which mark his development from reticent child to teenage artist. It is here that I believe that Campbell’s autobiographical material becomes most prevalent, with memorably vivid passages concerning how it feels to start out as a writer: the nervousness when revealing new work, the transformative impact of latest literary enthusiasms, even the way writing fiction helps one to understand one’s own life and can even lend one courage (like Burt Lancaster, the star of the piece can never die).
I feel that this is perhaps the book’s most significant theme: the role of fiction, particularly from the 1950s and the ubiquity of cinema, in shaping the way people in the modern age think about themselves and their actions. Campbell’s young characters are constantly borrowing phrases from the films, structuring their lived experience with mimicked behaviours.
Indeed, the more fiction the narrator writes, the more he comes to think of himself and his friends as characters in a story – and so they are. His tales of an intrepid gang become entwined with the narrator’s retrospective account of his youth, to such a degree that the older incarnation inevitably wonders how much he’s recalling in accurate detail and how much he might be elaborating according to fictional conventions and how they patch up incomplete memory.
This is a deep (and yet unobtrusive) strand of the novel, but let me not suggest that the book welshes on its horror material. Campbell’s tale of a young boy becoming involved with the dark shenanigans of a guru-like adult has more than a hint of King’s REVIVAL about it, but while King focuses intertextually more on Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN (despite his prefatory reference to “The Great God Pan”), Campbell’s novel feels more firmly rooted in the world of Machen’s seedy suburban adventure.
Something is amiss at an elderly friend’s house. When this lady suffers a breakdown as a consequence of some species of meddling by the insidious schoolmaster, the narrator’s boyhood self must figure out why and what caused it. This leads him into a sequence of events whose underlying pungency and escalating dread peak in images of hallucinogenic weirdness (a scene in a cinema’s bathroom is particularly fine) and a tantalising vision of imminent cosmic terror.
The narrator, looking back from a hitherto undisclosed future time period, repeatedly claims that the world is over now, but this first novel hints at only a third of the reason how. Its concluding scenes, one of them set under a creepy old church, provide both a fitting ending to this low-key exercise in mounting unease and a mouthwatering taste of what’s surely to come.
Well, that’s the traditional horror narrative, right there. But as I hope I’ve made clear, THE SEARCHING DEAD is about so much more than dark frights. Campbell’s parallel depiction of his narrator’s sensitive youth, particularly the social and existential forces which make him what he’ll become (a reflexive adult author), is tender, true and (in a great many places) painful. Indeed, prior to the unsettling finale, the narrator witnesses something equally disturbing in his personal life, and the way this prompts his literary aspirations, even reorients his religious affiliations, feels both right and real.
It’s a powerful ending to a novel which looks set to become one third of Campbell’s masterpiece: a trilogy about who he is as a man and what he’s always striven to achieve as an author. Bring on BORN TO THE DARK, I say. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I relished every page of THE SEARCHING DEAD.
In interviews around that time, Campbell claims that “maybe in another 20 years” he’ll have “another go” at scaling the peaks ascended by Lovecraft and Blackwood. Well, he’s done so already in several works – THE DARKEST PART OF THE WOODS (2003) and “The Last Revelation of Gla’aki” (2013), both considerable successes – but when I heard that he’d chosen to write a trilogy of novels focusing exclusively on a Mythos theme, I grew more than a little excited.
And so here we have the first entry in what promises to be Campbell’s most ambitious project yet. I understand that these three books will focus on different stages of their narrator’s life, documenting the decades in which Campbell himself has lived and worked. This opening piece is set in the 1950s, in the author’s native Liverpool, and anyone who’s read a little about Campbell’s youth will realise that quite a bit of this (with significant exceptions; for instance, the narrator’s parents appear rather less fractious than Campbell’s own were) is autobiographical.
Campbell’s post-WWII Liverpool is packed with evocative details, from bomb-damaged downtown property to cinemas in the city centre, from adverts saturating high streets to daily life at a Catholic school. Scenes in which the narrator’s juvenile self attends classes, hangs out with friends, and negotiates an ever-perplexing adult world possess an air of fond nostalgia, something which feels quite new in Campbell’s work. Indeed, the tone of this book put me firmly in mind of King’s IT and other works of that stripe.
But it’s not only the minutiae of ’50s English city life under scrutiny here; Campbell also explores social developments of the era, with much reference to international conflicts, gender politics, the resilience of religion under attack by new sciences, Trade Unions, and much more. This novel, fundamentally the intimate tale of a boy entangled in the activities of his decidedly sinister schoolteacher, has a broader dimension which hints at all the cosmic material which will surely be explored in later volumes.
Such rich, detailed world-building lends the book intricacy and completeness. The narrator’s early life is depicted with merciless attention to the circumstances which mark his development from reticent child to teenage artist. It is here that I believe that Campbell’s autobiographical material becomes most prevalent, with memorably vivid passages concerning how it feels to start out as a writer: the nervousness when revealing new work, the transformative impact of latest literary enthusiasms, even the way writing fiction helps one to understand one’s own life and can even lend one courage (like Burt Lancaster, the star of the piece can never die).
I feel that this is perhaps the book’s most significant theme: the role of fiction, particularly from the 1950s and the ubiquity of cinema, in shaping the way people in the modern age think about themselves and their actions. Campbell’s young characters are constantly borrowing phrases from the films, structuring their lived experience with mimicked behaviours.
Indeed, the more fiction the narrator writes, the more he comes to think of himself and his friends as characters in a story – and so they are. His tales of an intrepid gang become entwined with the narrator’s retrospective account of his youth, to such a degree that the older incarnation inevitably wonders how much he’s recalling in accurate detail and how much he might be elaborating according to fictional conventions and how they patch up incomplete memory.
This is a deep (and yet unobtrusive) strand of the novel, but let me not suggest that the book welshes on its horror material. Campbell’s tale of a young boy becoming involved with the dark shenanigans of a guru-like adult has more than a hint of King’s REVIVAL about it, but while King focuses intertextually more on Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN (despite his prefatory reference to “The Great God Pan”), Campbell’s novel feels more firmly rooted in the world of Machen’s seedy suburban adventure.
Something is amiss at an elderly friend’s house. When this lady suffers a breakdown as a consequence of some species of meddling by the insidious schoolmaster, the narrator’s boyhood self must figure out why and what caused it. This leads him into a sequence of events whose underlying pungency and escalating dread peak in images of hallucinogenic weirdness (a scene in a cinema’s bathroom is particularly fine) and a tantalising vision of imminent cosmic terror.
The narrator, looking back from a hitherto undisclosed future time period, repeatedly claims that the world is over now, but this first novel hints at only a third of the reason how. Its concluding scenes, one of them set under a creepy old church, provide both a fitting ending to this low-key exercise in mounting unease and a mouthwatering taste of what’s surely to come.
Well, that’s the traditional horror narrative, right there. But as I hope I’ve made clear, THE SEARCHING DEAD is about so much more than dark frights. Campbell’s parallel depiction of his narrator’s sensitive youth, particularly the social and existential forces which make him what he’ll become (a reflexive adult author), is tender, true and (in a great many places) painful. Indeed, prior to the unsettling finale, the narrator witnesses something equally disturbing in his personal life, and the way this prompts his literary aspirations, even reorients his religious affiliations, feels both right and real.
It’s a powerful ending to a novel which looks set to become one third of Campbell’s masterpiece: a trilogy about who he is as a man and what he’s always striven to achieve as an author. Bring on BORN TO THE DARK, I say. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I relished every page of THE SEARCHING DEAD.
October 9, 2016
A number of years ago I was reading a book on Quentin Tarantino and there's a section where he discusses his fondness for Italian exploitation film directors (such as Antonio Margheriti), and while Tarantino admitted that many of those directors were hacks, all the same they were hacks who knew what they were doing and how when you sat down to watch their films you knew you were in good hands. I bring this up (and considering Campbell's reputation as a film buff, it seems relevant) because that sentiment reminds me of how I feel when reading a Ramsey Campbell book (not that Campbell is a hack, of course! Far from it). I think one of his most endearing traits as a writer is his stolid reliability: you know that what you're about to read won't be the most experimental or groundbreaking thing in the world (this applies more to his novels than his short stories, obviously: in the shorter format his prose and structuring is a bit more exploratory), but at the same time you also know that it's not going to suck and that you're going to have a pleasurable reading experience.
While I generally prefer Campbell's short story collections to his novels, what made this one interesting for me is that not only is it the first book in a trilogy (as prior to this point, all of Campbell's novels have been, as far as I can tell, standalone works), but also that it looked back to the so-called "Brichester Mythos" fiction from the earliest point of his literary career (a confession: I know amongst Campbell's fan base that this might put me on some kind of shunned fringe, but I actually prefer Campbell's Inhabitant of the Lake-era Lovecraftian pastiches to his Demons by Daylight era, even while acknowledging that the latter was more innovative and influential... no doubt this is partly due to the fact that the 1987 Grafton paperback edition of the Cold Print collection was my very first exposure to Campbell's oeuvre). In some ways there is a strong Stephen King element at work here (that is, what with the semi-autobiographical 1950's setting and a plot revolving around a small band of teenagers investigating a supernatural menace), but it's all written in Campbell's usual understated and subtle style. Indeed, the evocation of Liverpool in the early-to-mid 1950's is well-done, there are several moments of genuine suspense, and while the ending is something of an anti-climax (as if often the case with most horror novels in general), that's only to be expected seeing as how this book is just the set-up for what's to come... and I can't wait for the second part to be released! It should also be noted that while Campbell's prose is never flamboyant, there are some very well-written passages: I especially like one from the 13th chapter, in which, after being exposed to the sinister contents of a cryptic journal, the narrator, while half-asleep, dreamily imagines the interior of his skull as a "huge dark place where the words from the book were taking more of a shape, groping inside my cranium like the legs of a great restless spider."
While I generally prefer Campbell's short story collections to his novels, what made this one interesting for me is that not only is it the first book in a trilogy (as prior to this point, all of Campbell's novels have been, as far as I can tell, standalone works), but also that it looked back to the so-called "Brichester Mythos" fiction from the earliest point of his literary career (a confession: I know amongst Campbell's fan base that this might put me on some kind of shunned fringe, but I actually prefer Campbell's Inhabitant of the Lake-era Lovecraftian pastiches to his Demons by Daylight era, even while acknowledging that the latter was more innovative and influential... no doubt this is partly due to the fact that the 1987 Grafton paperback edition of the Cold Print collection was my very first exposure to Campbell's oeuvre). In some ways there is a strong Stephen King element at work here (that is, what with the semi-autobiographical 1950's setting and a plot revolving around a small band of teenagers investigating a supernatural menace), but it's all written in Campbell's usual understated and subtle style. Indeed, the evocation of Liverpool in the early-to-mid 1950's is well-done, there are several moments of genuine suspense, and while the ending is something of an anti-climax (as if often the case with most horror novels in general), that's only to be expected seeing as how this book is just the set-up for what's to come... and I can't wait for the second part to be released! It should also be noted that while Campbell's prose is never flamboyant, there are some very well-written passages: I especially like one from the 13th chapter, in which, after being exposed to the sinister contents of a cryptic journal, the narrator, while half-asleep, dreamily imagines the interior of his skull as a "huge dark place where the words from the book were taking more of a shape, groping inside my cranium like the legs of a great restless spider."
May 19, 2021
Expertly and wonderfully written, this is a story that is primarily about time– and includes spirits and the quiet horror that pervades the unfathomable questions of loss and the after-life. I say time, because this is a story that takes place in 1950’s Liverpool and Ramsey does a great job in bringing the reader back to that time– the movies, the books, the family life, the politics and the zeitgeist of the era (and in this story there is a pointed focus on the thoughts of Religion and Spiritualism of the day).
The Trinity Church of the Spirit has as a belief that time- past, present, and future is meaningless, and that there is more to the world, the universe, and religions than we are meant to believe. There are many great passages in this book, but I’ll offer this one as an example of the philosophy behind the story -
“Every church is a mask which hides the truth. All religions are lies told to control the ignorant, but some of them embody codes which the enlightened may decipher.”
In my reviews I don’t like going into the details of a book’s chapter by chapter events, but rather I like to impart my overall sense and feeling a book has given me. And for The Searching Dead, I was drawn into the main character’s life. Dom is a writer emerging from childhood to adolescence. The novel isn’t just about horror or the Searching Dead, but also on Dom’s navigation of life, and his search for his own sense of self. As a reader I grew along with Dom as he maneuvered the shifting intricacies and relationships with his friends (the Tremendous Three), his parents (and adults in general), and school.
This is a Lovecraftian horror – it is not full of violence and gore, but the horror is real. You have to be in the right mood and mind to enjoy this novel. A real joy to read not only for the story but in the storytelling and writing. I understand that this is the beginning of a series and after finishing this novel it felt like – “I was being treated to a glimpse of a future that was hungry to be born.”
The Trinity Church of the Spirit has as a belief that time- past, present, and future is meaningless, and that there is more to the world, the universe, and religions than we are meant to believe. There are many great passages in this book, but I’ll offer this one as an example of the philosophy behind the story -
“Every church is a mask which hides the truth. All religions are lies told to control the ignorant, but some of them embody codes which the enlightened may decipher.”
In my reviews I don’t like going into the details of a book’s chapter by chapter events, but rather I like to impart my overall sense and feeling a book has given me. And for The Searching Dead, I was drawn into the main character’s life. Dom is a writer emerging from childhood to adolescence. The novel isn’t just about horror or the Searching Dead, but also on Dom’s navigation of life, and his search for his own sense of self. As a reader I grew along with Dom as he maneuvered the shifting intricacies and relationships with his friends (the Tremendous Three), his parents (and adults in general), and school.
This is a Lovecraftian horror – it is not full of violence and gore, but the horror is real. You have to be in the right mood and mind to enjoy this novel. A real joy to read not only for the story but in the storytelling and writing. I understand that this is the beginning of a series and after finishing this novel it felt like – “I was being treated to a glimpse of a future that was hungry to be born.”
February 26, 2017
Ramsey Campbell's style is pure magic and this book is an horrific delight. Here, he evokes the sights and sounds of his native Liverpool in the Fifties, where whole streets and districts were still bomb sites after the devastation of bombing during the war. His main character, Dominic Sheldrake, recalls his childhood and the history teacher who took him and a bunch of schoolmates on an unforgettable trip to France. Mr Noble is no ordinary teacher. Dominic and his two closest friends discover there is something highly sinister about this man's activities and beliefs. A neighbour starts behaving strangely, convinced her dead husband has returned - but not as she would want him to be. What is Mr Noble's role in this? And what about the secret journal the teacher has written? Insane ramblings? Or something much more far-reaching? Dominic becomes increasingly drawn in, to the point where he sees the horrors that lurk beneath the deconsecrated church - horrors that have potentially cataclysmic consequences stretching far beyond the world as he knows it. The Searching Dead is the first of a trilogy, I am eagerly awaiting book two
December 22, 2020
Wow! This is only my second Ramsey Campbell book and I'm hesitant to confess that we did not have the best of introductions. But this book has turned things around! I'm so excited this is the first in a series. Writing up my review for Cemetery Dance now!
(Thank you Flame Tree Press Team for sending me a very early NetGalley )
(Thank you Flame Tree Press Team for sending me a very early NetGalley )
November 28, 2016
Put down whatever you are reading and go and buy this right now. Slow-building horror that ebbs and flows in a childhood setting so detailed you can smell the chalk-dust. And this is the first of three novels, with a sequel apparently at first draft stage already. My only complaint is that this isn't available off-the-shelf in bookshops and a wider readership is missing out on an outstanding novel.
Want to read
September 9, 2018Brichester Mythos #1
July 1, 2020
Set in the 1950s Liverpool, The Searching Dead is the first book in a trilogy and concerns the coming of age of Dominic Sheldrake, and his strange Spiritualist schoolteacher.
This book was a return to Lovecraftian horror for Campbell: having dabbled in it throughout his career, especially in the early years, this book is a mature, fully fledged ode to spirituality and growing up and horrors the mind can’t quite comprehend.
Because this is Campbell, the scares are not loud or in your face—though several sequences did send chills down my spine—but carefully wrought, sure to sink under the reader’s skin and make him or her wonder more than scream. I’d say this is possibly a good starting place for new Campbell readers though, as the ball gets rolling early on and I know many horror readers dig coming of age stories—this is a humdinger of one!
The atmosphere and characters of this novel are indelibly drawn, but that’s no shock: this is a veteran writer, having perfected his craft for decades. I read this book rather slowly only because I wanted to bask in the assured construction of the story, and it’s because of that assured construction Campbell is able to so effectively shatter his reader’s nerves. Or maybe I’m just a wimp.
I’m thrilled this is only book one in this trilogy, as I plan to read book two soon and I have no doubt I’ll love it just as much as I loved this one! This book is perfect for fans of COA horror stories set in the mid-century, and fans of Lovecraftian horror. Or just splendid writing in general.
This book was a return to Lovecraftian horror for Campbell: having dabbled in it throughout his career, especially in the early years, this book is a mature, fully fledged ode to spirituality and growing up and horrors the mind can’t quite comprehend.
Because this is Campbell, the scares are not loud or in your face—though several sequences did send chills down my spine—but carefully wrought, sure to sink under the reader’s skin and make him or her wonder more than scream. I’d say this is possibly a good starting place for new Campbell readers though, as the ball gets rolling early on and I know many horror readers dig coming of age stories—this is a humdinger of one!
The atmosphere and characters of this novel are indelibly drawn, but that’s no shock: this is a veteran writer, having perfected his craft for decades. I read this book rather slowly only because I wanted to bask in the assured construction of the story, and it’s because of that assured construction Campbell is able to so effectively shatter his reader’s nerves. Or maybe I’m just a wimp.
I’m thrilled this is only book one in this trilogy, as I plan to read book two soon and I have no doubt I’ll love it just as much as I loved this one! This book is perfect for fans of COA horror stories set in the mid-century, and fans of Lovecraftian horror. Or just splendid writing in general.
February 13, 2023
I have read many of Ramsey Campbell's books and have never been disappointed. This was certainly no exception. Set in 1950’s England, it centers around a young boy, Dominic Sheldrake who attends a Catholic school, and his two best friends Jim and Roberta, "Bobby". Dominic is a young writer whose stories includes his two best friends in a series of adventures. He calls them "The Tremendous Three". These friends play right into the role of detectives and not just on the pages that Dominic writes. The conflict starts after Dominic discovers that a teacher at his school, Christian Noble, has formed his own church declaring that he has the ability to bring back the dead. Dominic persuades his friends to help get to the bottom of Noble’s activities. Not an easy task as he must do this while dealing with lots of backlash from his strict Catholic teachers and parents. There is also the start of budding romantic feelings toward Roberta, whom he and Jim are beginning to notice is developing into more than just their friend. He also works through insecurities over his budding writing career and how others do, or will, perceive it, all while struggling with the realization that his faith in God is starting to wane. However, he is not stopped from seeking answers, particularly after discovering that his teacher, Christian Noble has been including his two-year-old daughter in his dark and questionable activities. As with anything that Ramsey Campbell writes, the descriptions are eerie with a constant sense of dread right around the corner or in the next paragraph. These characters are so real to life and so much more can be read between the lines as on them. I thoroughly enjoyed this nightmare tale and have ordered the next book in the series, Born to the Dark
November 2, 2017
The great Ramsey Campbell looks both forward and backward in his newest novel: forward in the sense that he's writing something new for him (a bildungsroman and a trilogy of which The Searching Dead is Book One), backward in the sense that he's returned to the Lovecraftian themes and creatures of his earliest published work back when he was a teen-ager (!) in the early 1960's with a collection released by the Lovecraft-centric Arkham House.
The Searching Dead is also a retrospective narrative. And it may turn out to be a Künstlerroman -- when the first book ends, it remains unclear as to whether or not our narrator will become a writer. He's still in his early teens.
Our first-person, teen narrator, Dominic Sheldrake, lives in 1950's Liverpool. A recently widowed neighbour starts acting strangely several months after the death of her husband. So too her dog. The neighbour initially praises the new Church she's joined, as it's allowed her to contact her dead husband. Soon this doesn't seem like much of a bargain: the woman starts behaving erratically. And Dominic starts to be convinced that something follows her around, something insubstantial that nonetheless has the power to attach itself to things living or dead and reshape them to embody its form.
Dominic has also just begun his year at a new school, a private Catholic boys' school, along with his best friend Jim. The third member of their childhood trio, Roberta/Bobbie, is still around as well. But puberty has started changing things for the three. And age has its other effects -- the imaginary trio of child heroes Dominic writes the adventures of in his notebooks, heroes who are even named after Dominic, Bobbie, and Jim, no longer have much allure for Jim and Bobbie. They're becoming kid's stuff.
As Dominic finds himself pulled into the increasingly strange events surrounding his neighbour, he discovers a connection between her and the oddest of his school-teachers. And the oddness of that school-teacher becomes more and more pronouncedly odd the longer and closer Dominic looks. Jim and Bobbie come along for the ride, for awhile. But everyone grows up, and the exploits of pre-pubescent detectives are invariably fictional. Which is too bad, as Dominic has stumbled across events that would probably require the combined efforts of the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, and the Harry Potter gang to combat.
Dominic is a poignant, self-critical narrator, letting slip hints of what's coming (something dire) from his retrospective position. Campbell does a fine job situating his narrator in that liminal zone between child and teenager, with the attendant confusion amplified by the awful events into which Dominic finds himself being pulled. Dominic wants to believe in a world in which teen detectives save the day. But that belief stands revealed as a fictional conceit as the events of The Searching Dead unfold.
The evocation of a specific place and time helps make The Searching Dead one of Campbell's strongest novels. Post-war shortages, the continued existence of entire unoccupied neighbourhoods of Blitzed houses, the arrival of the first neighbourhood televisions just in time for Elizabeth II's coronation, the street parties that accompany that coronation, the day-to-day school activities of Dominic and Jim -- all these are beautifully and complexly depicted. And there's a sad and tragic scene in which the Liverpool police return a woman to the husband she's fled because clearly the husband knows best and the woman has no right to run away with her child from an upstanding male citizen.
We end with a scene that suggests mounting horrors to come while satisfyingly bringing to a close the first part of the story. The sinister, cult-like 'religion' of The Searching Dead seems entirely plausible. Its rituals make almost more sense than those of 'real' religions. Something is coming, something even the trees fear. Something else has already arrived. Its work is not yet done.
The Searching Dead is also a retrospective narrative. And it may turn out to be a Künstlerroman -- when the first book ends, it remains unclear as to whether or not our narrator will become a writer. He's still in his early teens.
Our first-person, teen narrator, Dominic Sheldrake, lives in 1950's Liverpool. A recently widowed neighbour starts acting strangely several months after the death of her husband. So too her dog. The neighbour initially praises the new Church she's joined, as it's allowed her to contact her dead husband. Soon this doesn't seem like much of a bargain: the woman starts behaving erratically. And Dominic starts to be convinced that something follows her around, something insubstantial that nonetheless has the power to attach itself to things living or dead and reshape them to embody its form.
Dominic has also just begun his year at a new school, a private Catholic boys' school, along with his best friend Jim. The third member of their childhood trio, Roberta/Bobbie, is still around as well. But puberty has started changing things for the three. And age has its other effects -- the imaginary trio of child heroes Dominic writes the adventures of in his notebooks, heroes who are even named after Dominic, Bobbie, and Jim, no longer have much allure for Jim and Bobbie. They're becoming kid's stuff.
As Dominic finds himself pulled into the increasingly strange events surrounding his neighbour, he discovers a connection between her and the oddest of his school-teachers. And the oddness of that school-teacher becomes more and more pronouncedly odd the longer and closer Dominic looks. Jim and Bobbie come along for the ride, for awhile. But everyone grows up, and the exploits of pre-pubescent detectives are invariably fictional. Which is too bad, as Dominic has stumbled across events that would probably require the combined efforts of the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, and the Harry Potter gang to combat.
Dominic is a poignant, self-critical narrator, letting slip hints of what's coming (something dire) from his retrospective position. Campbell does a fine job situating his narrator in that liminal zone between child and teenager, with the attendant confusion amplified by the awful events into which Dominic finds himself being pulled. Dominic wants to believe in a world in which teen detectives save the day. But that belief stands revealed as a fictional conceit as the events of The Searching Dead unfold.
The evocation of a specific place and time helps make The Searching Dead one of Campbell's strongest novels. Post-war shortages, the continued existence of entire unoccupied neighbourhoods of Blitzed houses, the arrival of the first neighbourhood televisions just in time for Elizabeth II's coronation, the street parties that accompany that coronation, the day-to-day school activities of Dominic and Jim -- all these are beautifully and complexly depicted. And there's a sad and tragic scene in which the Liverpool police return a woman to the husband she's fled because clearly the husband knows best and the woman has no right to run away with her child from an upstanding male citizen.
We end with a scene that suggests mounting horrors to come while satisfyingly bringing to a close the first part of the story. The sinister, cult-like 'religion' of The Searching Dead seems entirely plausible. Its rituals make almost more sense than those of 'real' religions. Something is coming, something even the trees fear. Something else has already arrived. Its work is not yet done.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2021
I had high hopes for my very first (shame on me) Ramsey Campbell book, and in the end I was not disappointed. Though the beginning was slow - so very slow - and I feared I might be in for a very lengthy story with lots of sidetracks and little actual plot, soon I found I was totally immersed in Dominic Sheldrake's life, his view of the world and what he experienced. His struggle to cope with the situation, the adults' ignorance and the strict upbringing of that time provided a powerful and convincing coming-of-age story. The supernatural part of the story was equally fascinating and terrifying, and both facettes combined into a story that left me overwhelmed and wanting for more - both of the Daoloth trilogy and also other works from this impressive author.
(thanks to netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own)
(thanks to netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own)
October 9, 2016
When Mr Noble, a teacher at Dominick Sheldrake’s Roman Catholic school, brings his father into an assembly to talk about his experiences in the Second World War, the old man tells of a field where he was stationed that seemed hungry to receive the dead. When Mr Noble then suggests a school trip to view the battlefields in France, Dominick starts to think his somewhat unconventional teacher may be trying to visit the field his father talked about, and for no good reasons.
Set in the early 1950s, The Searching Dead brings in a lot of details from Campbell’s own childhood in a post-Blitz Liverpool. The story starts as a cross between a ghost story and something from Enid Blyton, as Dominick and his two pals, Jim and Bobby (Roberta), make up the Tremendous Three, about whom Dom is trying to write stories. Realising Mr Noble, who seems to be trying to take over a local spiritualist church with his own techniques for bringing the bereaved into contact with their departed loved ones, is up to no good, the gang try to do something about it, only to be constantly thwarted (as Enid Blyton’s characters never are) by disapproving parents and repressive, overly-strict teachers, who see every wilful impulse as an affront to their religious teachings. But as the story moves on, the air of Famous Fivery leaves it for something increasingly darker, taking us ultimately into the more familiar Campbell territory of being “Alone with the Horrors”.
Though complete in itself, The Searching Dead is the first book in a projected trilogy, The Three Births of Daoloth, and it’s certainly left me looking forward to what Campbell is going to do with the rest of the series. It really feels that it has the potential (rather like the fruits of Mr Noble’s uncanny endeavours), to grow in some very dark and twisted directions.
Set in the early 1950s, The Searching Dead brings in a lot of details from Campbell’s own childhood in a post-Blitz Liverpool. The story starts as a cross between a ghost story and something from Enid Blyton, as Dominick and his two pals, Jim and Bobby (Roberta), make up the Tremendous Three, about whom Dom is trying to write stories. Realising Mr Noble, who seems to be trying to take over a local spiritualist church with his own techniques for bringing the bereaved into contact with their departed loved ones, is up to no good, the gang try to do something about it, only to be constantly thwarted (as Enid Blyton’s characters never are) by disapproving parents and repressive, overly-strict teachers, who see every wilful impulse as an affront to their religious teachings. But as the story moves on, the air of Famous Fivery leaves it for something increasingly darker, taking us ultimately into the more familiar Campbell territory of being “Alone with the Horrors”.
Though complete in itself, The Searching Dead is the first book in a projected trilogy, The Three Births of Daoloth, and it’s certainly left me looking forward to what Campbell is going to do with the rest of the series. It really feels that it has the potential (rather like the fruits of Mr Noble’s uncanny endeavours), to grow in some very dark and twisted directions.
June 17, 2022
"The Searching Dead" is a slow read, a coming of age tale set in 1950s Liverpool, with a group of young kids, led by Dominic Sheldrake, as they investigate the strange doing of their history teacher Mr. Noble from their private Christian school. The gothic story of the strange, creepy Mr. Noble, his even creepier two-year old, and the ghostly nature of the beings that seem to surround these two take second place to the scene and setting of the childhood of these three friends, who traverse school, the cinema, and relationships with their parents and neighbors with equal aplomb. It's an enjoyable book, but certainly not what I was expecting.
September 5, 2021
More like 3.7 stars. An intriguing start to a series, not as much horror or creepy elements as I had hoped but entertaining and readable enough for me to want to continue on with the series.
April 6, 2021
Imagine if The Famous Five inhabited the world of Stranger Things but that world was 1952 Liverpool. Are you curious?
Dominic lives a quiet life with his parents in a Liverpool that is still recovering from the ravages of WWII. He has two close friends Bobby (Roberta) and Jim, the three of them form the Tremendous Three. Dominic and Jim start a new school, one that is very religious and comes with a very odd teacher in the shape of Mr Noble.
Christian Noble is an odd chap, intense and very creepy. On a school trip to France, Dominic witnesses strange nighttime behaviour of his teacher and starts keeping an eye his teacher and his weird ways.
Meanwhile, one of Dominic’s neighbours Mrs Norris is acting oddly, she has started attending a local spiritual church, something that is much frowned upon by Dominic’s parents. Mrs Norris has lost her husband and this church is going to put her in touch with him. According to Mrs Norris, her deceased husband has started talking to her but as her behaviour grows increasingly weird. Dominic worries for her.
They discover that Mr Noble also attends the same church as Mrs Norris. From that moment on the Tremendous Three watch his every movement hoping they will be led to this strange church. Is the strange behaviour of Mr Noble linked to Mrs Norris?
This is a slow burn read, you do need to stick with it but the chilling atmosphere combined with the curiosity and detective work of the kids makes this such a rewarding read. It is book one in a trilogy, so I’m curious to see where this goes next.
Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Dominic lives a quiet life with his parents in a Liverpool that is still recovering from the ravages of WWII. He has two close friends Bobby (Roberta) and Jim, the three of them form the Tremendous Three. Dominic and Jim start a new school, one that is very religious and comes with a very odd teacher in the shape of Mr Noble.
Christian Noble is an odd chap, intense and very creepy. On a school trip to France, Dominic witnesses strange nighttime behaviour of his teacher and starts keeping an eye his teacher and his weird ways.
Meanwhile, one of Dominic’s neighbours Mrs Norris is acting oddly, she has started attending a local spiritual church, something that is much frowned upon by Dominic’s parents. Mrs Norris has lost her husband and this church is going to put her in touch with him. According to Mrs Norris, her deceased husband has started talking to her but as her behaviour grows increasingly weird. Dominic worries for her.
They discover that Mr Noble also attends the same church as Mrs Norris. From that moment on the Tremendous Three watch his every movement hoping they will be led to this strange church. Is the strange behaviour of Mr Noble linked to Mrs Norris?
This is a slow burn read, you do need to stick with it but the chilling atmosphere combined with the curiosity and detective work of the kids makes this such a rewarding read. It is book one in a trilogy, so I’m curious to see where this goes next.
Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Read
November 2, 2021At 50% I’m giving this a pass. Campbell is certainly a fine writer but his style and sentence structure just don’t work well with me. My mind stutters through every page.
I will say that the detail about the trees bending is something that will stay with me a long time. Brilliant.
I am certain that those who like his style will love this.
I will say that the detail about the trees bending is something that will stay with me a long time. Brilliant.
I am certain that those who like his style will love this.
February 16, 2021
If you want to know Horror, or if you want to study to write Horror, delve into the oeuvre of GrandMaster of Horror Ramsey Campbell. I can think of no other author who can so intensely effectively chill my every bone, nor frighten me so subtly. I found his newest,THE SEARCHING DEAD, inexpressibly terrifying and metaphysically far-reaching in its scope. Interweaving early 1950's postwar England coming of age with the advance of a Monstrous evil older than time, now embodied, and frequent hints of an even more terrifying future, this novel reminds us that indeed the dead are all around us, in the billions; and we are watched.
February 16, 2022
2.5
I had high hopes for this one. It’s post-war Britain. A Liverpudlian schoolboy sneaks around town unearthing dark, maggoty secrets to learn his creepy teacher heads a cult that summons the dead. Strong premise, but I feel this one needs editing. Too wordy and no real resolution.
I had high hopes for this one. It’s post-war Britain. A Liverpudlian schoolboy sneaks around town unearthing dark, maggoty secrets to learn his creepy teacher heads a cult that summons the dead. Strong premise, but I feel this one needs editing. Too wordy and no real resolution.
October 23, 2021
This is a slow-paced, well-crafted horror story that engages due to the characters of the three children protagonists. Because the focus is on these three kids--the world is conveyed through their perspectives, primarily Dominic Sheldrake's--I get a strong Stranger Things vibe from the novel. The menace is similarly vague and likewise comes from another dimension.
What is very different is the early 1950s Liverpool setting. The community is still clearly recovering from the War seven years or so after it ended. I didn't realize the north was so hard hit or that recovery had taken so long. I appreciated Campbell's allowing us to see the culture of private Catholic School education of the period, too. Mine was twenty years later, to the southeast in Ipswich, but in most respects almost the same.
The novel had a strange schism for me, the same one Stranger Things also contains. One half of it is straight fiction. We see the interactions between the group of three friends, and their interactions with their parents, the school staff, and the city community, particularly the theater and various neighbors. This sounds mundane, and in some respects it was, resulting in the aforementioned slow pace feel to the novel. Yet Campbell makes it work. He builds suspense along not only classic lovers' triangle lines, but also in parental and inter-parental relationship tensions, and realistically portrayed differences of opinion (conflicts is too strong a word) with school teachers.
Campbell could have lost the thread completely in this straight fictional aspect, yet doesn't. The other half of the book is the building menace of a coming invasion from a dimension of the dead, called spiritualism, and linked to Conan Doyle's belief system at some points, though it's more than that. There is a complex theological underpinning that is barely touched on here, but works well nevertheless. The menace feels real even if the kids trying to confront it are completely inadequately equipped or supported in their efforts to do so.
Reviewers like to call this novel Lovecraftian, but I think that a bad idea. It doesn't really describe much. Most take the adjective to mean that some vague, extra-dimensional menace, or three, usually with tentacles, wants to invade our world. Big deal. I mean, if that's the case, why not simply say that's what the story is about? Is it really that interesting or novel? Does H. G. Wells own the monopoly on every story that has a time machine? We don't call all of these Wellsian, do we? Then why call every story with an extra-dimensional tentacled alien menace Lovecraftian? Let's get out of our rut and show imagination instead by sharing some of what the author describes. Not every alien menace is the same.
I am going on to read the second novel in the series, basically because I made the mistake of acquiring it first, before realizing it was the second and that I ought to read the first before undertaking it. I hope it might move faster, but don't really expect it to. The slow pace is probably just how Campbell rolls.
What is very different is the early 1950s Liverpool setting. The community is still clearly recovering from the War seven years or so after it ended. I didn't realize the north was so hard hit or that recovery had taken so long. I appreciated Campbell's allowing us to see the culture of private Catholic School education of the period, too. Mine was twenty years later, to the southeast in Ipswich, but in most respects almost the same.
The novel had a strange schism for me, the same one Stranger Things also contains. One half of it is straight fiction. We see the interactions between the group of three friends, and their interactions with their parents, the school staff, and the city community, particularly the theater and various neighbors. This sounds mundane, and in some respects it was, resulting in the aforementioned slow pace feel to the novel. Yet Campbell makes it work. He builds suspense along not only classic lovers' triangle lines, but also in parental and inter-parental relationship tensions, and realistically portrayed differences of opinion (conflicts is too strong a word) with school teachers.
Campbell could have lost the thread completely in this straight fictional aspect, yet doesn't. The other half of the book is the building menace of a coming invasion from a dimension of the dead, called spiritualism, and linked to Conan Doyle's belief system at some points, though it's more than that. There is a complex theological underpinning that is barely touched on here, but works well nevertheless. The menace feels real even if the kids trying to confront it are completely inadequately equipped or supported in their efforts to do so.
Reviewers like to call this novel Lovecraftian, but I think that a bad idea. It doesn't really describe much. Most take the adjective to mean that some vague, extra-dimensional menace, or three, usually with tentacles, wants to invade our world. Big deal. I mean, if that's the case, why not simply say that's what the story is about? Is it really that interesting or novel? Does H. G. Wells own the monopoly on every story that has a time machine? We don't call all of these Wellsian, do we? Then why call every story with an extra-dimensional tentacled alien menace Lovecraftian? Let's get out of our rut and show imagination instead by sharing some of what the author describes. Not every alien menace is the same.
I am going on to read the second novel in the series, basically because I made the mistake of acquiring it first, before realizing it was the second and that I ought to read the first before undertaking it. I hope it might move faster, but don't really expect it to. The slow pace is probably just how Campbell rolls.
April 6, 2021
Dominic and his two school mates, Jim and Bobby, are the self proclaimed Tremendous Three. There’s nothing they can’t handle. Having said that...with the smells of school hallways, uniforms and crowded classrooms comes an unearthing of an undefined shapeless presence that can only be found within the boundaries of darkness. These discoveries ultimately open a Pandora’s Box of secrecies that only the dead bestow.
Can a deceased loved one come back from the grave? Would it be inappropriate to restore someone dear to you that has departed? Members of a congregation known as The Trinity Church seem to have thoroughly explored what lies beyond. These identified ghostly existences carry a disturbing momentum towards purgatory and the afterlife. The Searching Dead takes the reader on a journey of unrelenting devotion, youthful courage and unsettling hidden secrets.
Ramsey Campbell sets the appropriate mood by using his writing skills as a gateway to sinister forces. Surrounding school and religion with darkness, the dead and elongated shadows of dread throughout the pages. This riveting slow burn of a story cleverly encompasses terrifying apparitions, skeptical revelations and metaphoric horrors. Its past, present and future anecdotes combined with the haunting unknown makes this a highly creepy read.
The Searching Dead is the first book of the Three Births of Daoloth trilogy. It’s a spooky read that winds its way through spiritual paths leading right up to the cemetery gates. When you hear the dead call out from the graveyards...will you answer?
Can a deceased loved one come back from the grave? Would it be inappropriate to restore someone dear to you that has departed? Members of a congregation known as The Trinity Church seem to have thoroughly explored what lies beyond. These identified ghostly existences carry a disturbing momentum towards purgatory and the afterlife. The Searching Dead takes the reader on a journey of unrelenting devotion, youthful courage and unsettling hidden secrets.
Ramsey Campbell sets the appropriate mood by using his writing skills as a gateway to sinister forces. Surrounding school and religion with darkness, the dead and elongated shadows of dread throughout the pages. This riveting slow burn of a story cleverly encompasses terrifying apparitions, skeptical revelations and metaphoric horrors. Its past, present and future anecdotes combined with the haunting unknown makes this a highly creepy read.
The Searching Dead is the first book of the Three Births of Daoloth trilogy. It’s a spooky read that winds its way through spiritual paths leading right up to the cemetery gates. When you hear the dead call out from the graveyards...will you answer?
January 9, 2021
In the past year, I've discovered Ramsey Campbell and his quietly executed brand of horror. Of the four or five titles of his I've read so far, each has left me intrigued and interested, but never horrified. In fact, I think the trolley scene in today's book - The Searching Dead - is the most grotesque thing I've read from him so far. Generally, my experience has been that a mysterious and fantastical atmosphere subtly shines the way for Campbell's stories. Though this does mean some slow sections from time to time, I've walked away from every one of his books pleased.
The Searching Dead is no exception; you know, it might even be my favorite yet. The fact that this book is just the first in a trilogy to reissue this year is very exciting. It's part coming-of-age, part religiously fanatic, and part ghostly. The pieces are there - many of which are still waiting in shadow for now - to provide an immersive experience. Like with The Wise Friend, I found myself driven by my curiosity to uncover more secrets of the nemesis and what they've got hidden up their sleeve. Count me in for the rest of this trilogy (especially after those final pages)!
***
Highlights: Strong cast … mysterious enemy … the ending … continues in two more titles
Shadows: A little slow at times where little seems to be happening
FFO: Slow-burning horror … horror driven by mystery and atmosphere
Takeaway: The Searching Dead is a curious and engaging read that promises to get darker in its sequels.
Would I read this author again? Yes
***
REVIEW BY AIDEN MERCHANT
→ WWW.AIDENMERCHANT.COM
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The Searching Dead is no exception; you know, it might even be my favorite yet. The fact that this book is just the first in a trilogy to reissue this year is very exciting. It's part coming-of-age, part religiously fanatic, and part ghostly. The pieces are there - many of which are still waiting in shadow for now - to provide an immersive experience. Like with The Wise Friend, I found myself driven by my curiosity to uncover more secrets of the nemesis and what they've got hidden up their sleeve. Count me in for the rest of this trilogy (especially after those final pages)!
***
Highlights: Strong cast … mysterious enemy … the ending … continues in two more titles
Shadows: A little slow at times where little seems to be happening
FFO: Slow-burning horror … horror driven by mystery and atmosphere
Takeaway: The Searching Dead is a curious and engaging read that promises to get darker in its sequels.
Would I read this author again? Yes
***
REVIEW BY AIDEN MERCHANT
→ WWW.AIDENMERCHANT.COM
CONTACT: CONTACT@AIDENMERCHANT.COM
SOCIAL MEDIA: INSTAGRAM (AIDENMERCHANT.OFFICIAL) AND TWITTER (AIDENMERCHANT89)
February 9, 2021
Ah, cosmic horror. It’s the tried-and-true drug that everyone turns to at least on occasion. After all, we all started out with the Godfather of Eldritch Horror, H.P. Lovecraft. There may be readers out there who escaped his clutches, but I’d be staggered if I ever met one. You could say it’s required reading despite all the other stuff that comes along with his stories.
Similarly, every horror author has tried their hand at it. My first published short story, “From the Drop”, is a straight-up Lovecraft pastiche set aboard a crab fishing vessel in the Bering Sea (yes, I’m a Deadliest Catch fan). In that space, there are very few authors who have more of a flair for it than Ramsey Campbell. His early writing was directly inspired by the man’s work, and he’s written many a tale of madness from beyond the stars. When you have a true master revisiting the mythos, it’s essential that you stand up and take note.
You can read Stuart's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
Similarly, every horror author has tried their hand at it. My first published short story, “From the Drop”, is a straight-up Lovecraft pastiche set aboard a crab fishing vessel in the Bering Sea (yes, I’m a Deadliest Catch fan). In that space, there are very few authors who have more of a flair for it than Ramsey Campbell. His early writing was directly inspired by the man’s work, and he’s written many a tale of madness from beyond the stars. When you have a true master revisiting the mythos, it’s essential that you stand up and take note.
You can read Stuart's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
November 26, 2020
The Searching Dead is published by Flame Tree Press (following its original publication several years ago in a limited edition by PS Publishing) and is the first part of Ramsey Campbell’s Daoloth trilogy, to be followed by Born to the Dark and The Way of the Worm. Set in Liverpool in 1952 it follows the story of schoolboy Dominic Sheldrake and his friends Jim and Bobby. Dominic, the narrator, lives with his parents and attends a local all-boys Catholic school. When his class goes on a school trip to France to visit some war sites, Christian Noble, one of the teachers, starts to display some sinister behaviour, drawing the three friends into a terrifying encounter with forces beyond the grave.
I’ve been a fan of Ramsey Campbell since I first came across his short stories in the 80s, which further lead me to his novels. His writing career began many years ago, initially emulating the Lovecraftian mythos stories, but he quickly moved on to finding his own distinct voice and occupying his own place in the list of genre greats. Campbell has a wonderful ability to render even the most mundane object unsettling, and possesses a superb skill in creating funny situations that often quickly give way to disturbing ones, with a deft turn of phrase. It feels like much of the childhood scenes in The Searching Dead might be drawn from Campbell’s own life, and that autobiographical aspect (Dominic has a desire to become a writer) befits the novel. There are several scenes which are so brilliantly written as to evoke a real sense of dread and disquiet, and he manages to balance the coming-of-age story perfectly against the main strand of the narrative, which is the cosmic horror suggested at by the antagonist Noble. The more overtly horror aspects of the book are subtly done, with numerous instances of Campbell’s skill in creating scenes worthy of nightmare. Most horror novels would be proud of having just one of these scenes, but The Searching Dead achieves this over and over, accumulating the dread until the overall affect is immensely disturbing. Despite this just being the opening book of the trilogy, there’s a sense of one chapter closing and another opening as the narrator hints at the horrors to come. I really liked the character of Dominic and I’m interested in hearing what happens to him as he grows older. No doubt the darkness that he’s escaped from is only a temporary respite. I suspect Christian Noble and his dark church is not done with him yet. This is a superb slice of cosmic horror, one that works on many levels, and is a worthy read. Recommended.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I’ve been a fan of Ramsey Campbell since I first came across his short stories in the 80s, which further lead me to his novels. His writing career began many years ago, initially emulating the Lovecraftian mythos stories, but he quickly moved on to finding his own distinct voice and occupying his own place in the list of genre greats. Campbell has a wonderful ability to render even the most mundane object unsettling, and possesses a superb skill in creating funny situations that often quickly give way to disturbing ones, with a deft turn of phrase. It feels like much of the childhood scenes in The Searching Dead might be drawn from Campbell’s own life, and that autobiographical aspect (Dominic has a desire to become a writer) befits the novel. There are several scenes which are so brilliantly written as to evoke a real sense of dread and disquiet, and he manages to balance the coming-of-age story perfectly against the main strand of the narrative, which is the cosmic horror suggested at by the antagonist Noble. The more overtly horror aspects of the book are subtly done, with numerous instances of Campbell’s skill in creating scenes worthy of nightmare. Most horror novels would be proud of having just one of these scenes, but The Searching Dead achieves this over and over, accumulating the dread until the overall affect is immensely disturbing. Despite this just being the opening book of the trilogy, there’s a sense of one chapter closing and another opening as the narrator hints at the horrors to come. I really liked the character of Dominic and I’m interested in hearing what happens to him as he grows older. No doubt the darkness that he’s escaped from is only a temporary respite. I suspect Christian Noble and his dark church is not done with him yet. This is a superb slice of cosmic horror, one that works on many levels, and is a worthy read. Recommended.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
February 18, 2021
Ramsey Campbell is an author I have always wanted to try so when I was offered the chance to read The Searching Dead I jumped at it. The story follows young Dominic Sheldrake as he begins to have suspicions about his history teacher Mr Noble. He learns that his widowed neighbour is part of a church that allows you to contact your dead loved ones and as Dominic and his friend Jim explore France on a school trip he learns that Mr Noble might have other reasons for being there. As Dominic and his friends attempt to uncover the mysteries surrounding them, they uncover much more than they bargained for.
This was such a fun and fascinating read. The story is set in 1950’s Liverpool and Campbell has put an incredible amount of detail into bringing the city to life. All the sights and sounds of post-war Britain leap from the page and it made for a really compelling read. The story has a slightly sinister atmosphere throughout, and this continues to build as we get further and further into the mysteries surrounding Dominic.
I loved that this was also a coming of age story, as Dominic and his friends grow up and begin to question the things around them. I really liked Dominic, Jim and Bobbie, they made for a really great group of friends to follow. All the characters are well fleshed out in the story, from the eerie Mr Noble to the grieving widow next door. While the story is quite quick paced this is a slow building horror but I read the last half of the book in one sitting because I couldn’t look away. It’s a compelling read and I’m really eager to see what book two has in store.
The Searching Dead is a tense and gripping read and if you’re a fan of Lovecraftian horror stories, this is absolutely one to check out. Whilst this is my first book from Ramsey Campbell, it definitely will not be my last.
This was such a fun and fascinating read. The story is set in 1950’s Liverpool and Campbell has put an incredible amount of detail into bringing the city to life. All the sights and sounds of post-war Britain leap from the page and it made for a really compelling read. The story has a slightly sinister atmosphere throughout, and this continues to build as we get further and further into the mysteries surrounding Dominic.
I loved that this was also a coming of age story, as Dominic and his friends grow up and begin to question the things around them. I really liked Dominic, Jim and Bobbie, they made for a really great group of friends to follow. All the characters are well fleshed out in the story, from the eerie Mr Noble to the grieving widow next door. While the story is quite quick paced this is a slow building horror but I read the last half of the book in one sitting because I couldn’t look away. It’s a compelling read and I’m really eager to see what book two has in store.
The Searching Dead is a tense and gripping read and if you’re a fan of Lovecraftian horror stories, this is absolutely one to check out. Whilst this is my first book from Ramsey Campbell, it definitely will not be my last.
March 31, 2021
This story had some of my favorite horror elements; coming of age and the spirit world.
It begins thru the eyes of Dominic Sheldrake. A young man attending a school with strict teachers, who lives in a home with watchful parents. Thru his journey into adolescence we meet his two friends Jim and Bobby, and learn of his suspicions towards one of his teachers and the dark nature of that teachers actions.
What I enjoyed about this one is how truly moody and atmospheric it was. It’s clear Campbell is a veteran in the trade and he paints such beautiful scenes all on his own unique canvas. I felt transported onto that canvas at times, a part of the brushstrokes intermingling with the grooves and creases of the very landscape itself.
“𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.”
What I didn’t enjoy... well, at times it just felt like not much was happening. I felt it was a bit drawn out, and that It didn’t grab me like I would want it to. It felt more like a very long prelude to what is to come.
Now. That being said, the idea of the story and Campbells writing has me wanting to read on in the series to see where it goes. Even though I didn’t love this one as a whole, I loved a lot of the elements. And I definitely want to read other works by Campbell. His writing style definitely has my attention.
I give The Searching Dead 💀 💀💀
It begins thru the eyes of Dominic Sheldrake. A young man attending a school with strict teachers, who lives in a home with watchful parents. Thru his journey into adolescence we meet his two friends Jim and Bobby, and learn of his suspicions towards one of his teachers and the dark nature of that teachers actions.
What I enjoyed about this one is how truly moody and atmospheric it was. It’s clear Campbell is a veteran in the trade and he paints such beautiful scenes all on his own unique canvas. I felt transported onto that canvas at times, a part of the brushstrokes intermingling with the grooves and creases of the very landscape itself.
“𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.”
What I didn’t enjoy... well, at times it just felt like not much was happening. I felt it was a bit drawn out, and that It didn’t grab me like I would want it to. It felt more like a very long prelude to what is to come.
Now. That being said, the idea of the story and Campbells writing has me wanting to read on in the series to see where it goes. Even though I didn’t love this one as a whole, I loved a lot of the elements. And I definitely want to read other works by Campbell. His writing style definitely has my attention.
I give The Searching Dead 💀 💀💀
February 3, 2021
The Searching Dead is the first book in a trilogy, originally released in 2016 but never widely available in the U.S. Flame Tree Press will be rectifying that over the next couple years, first with this one then with Born to the Dark next October, and The Way of the Worm following that.
My exposure to Ramsey Campbell has been limited, having read only one other novel and various short fiction. Even with that narrow array, the elements that make Campbell a legend in horror are obvious. Atmosphere is the first word that comes to mind, and it’s what makes The Searching Dead such a pleasure. Is pleasure the right word? Campbell tells a coming-of-age story that strays from the typical fare we’ve come to expect in books like It and Ghoul. These books give an authentic account of growing up in the 50’s or 80’s in small-town America, wearing their hearts on their sleeves. And they’re phenomenal. But The Searching Dead gives us a different viewpoint, that of 1950’s Liverpool.
It’s the quiet, subtle friendship between Dominic, Jim, and Bobby combined with the immersive nature of being in a catholic school and a community reflecting the charter of the school that contributes to the atmosphere’s effect on the story. The growth of the ‘tremendous three’, as they’re, dubbed feels authentic, from the beginnings of their collective rebellion in terms of strong language to attempts to explore feelings of friendship and perhaps more.
The book has creepy elements including the development of Christian Noble, the antagonist who begins as a teacher but doesn’t quite fit the community’s expectations. The Searching Dead succeeds equally in setting up his story as bringing us into the lives of Dom, Jim, and Bobby. The inclusion of Noble’s family paints a vivid picture, including his father setting events into motion, as well as his wife and daughter vividly walk us through the upheaval of a normally quiet town.
Like previous work I’ve read by Campbell, The Searching Dead moves at something of a slow-burn pace. New readers may find the pacing not to their taste but should stick with it. Once the cogs of the story begin to click into place, the reader is drawn in, potentially against their will, needing to discover what happens next. It’ll be a long wait for the next book in the series, but I’ll be anxiously looking forward to the next installment.
I received a copy from the publisher for review consideration.
My exposure to Ramsey Campbell has been limited, having read only one other novel and various short fiction. Even with that narrow array, the elements that make Campbell a legend in horror are obvious. Atmosphere is the first word that comes to mind, and it’s what makes The Searching Dead such a pleasure. Is pleasure the right word? Campbell tells a coming-of-age story that strays from the typical fare we’ve come to expect in books like It and Ghoul. These books give an authentic account of growing up in the 50’s or 80’s in small-town America, wearing their hearts on their sleeves. And they’re phenomenal. But The Searching Dead gives us a different viewpoint, that of 1950’s Liverpool.
It’s the quiet, subtle friendship between Dominic, Jim, and Bobby combined with the immersive nature of being in a catholic school and a community reflecting the charter of the school that contributes to the atmosphere’s effect on the story. The growth of the ‘tremendous three’, as they’re, dubbed feels authentic, from the beginnings of their collective rebellion in terms of strong language to attempts to explore feelings of friendship and perhaps more.
The book has creepy elements including the development of Christian Noble, the antagonist who begins as a teacher but doesn’t quite fit the community’s expectations. The Searching Dead succeeds equally in setting up his story as bringing us into the lives of Dom, Jim, and Bobby. The inclusion of Noble’s family paints a vivid picture, including his father setting events into motion, as well as his wife and daughter vividly walk us through the upheaval of a normally quiet town.
Like previous work I’ve read by Campbell, The Searching Dead moves at something of a slow-burn pace. New readers may find the pacing not to their taste but should stick with it. Once the cogs of the story begin to click into place, the reader is drawn in, potentially against their will, needing to discover what happens next. It’ll be a long wait for the next book in the series, but I’ll be anxiously looking forward to the next installment.
I received a copy from the publisher for review consideration.
July 30, 2022
There is much here that will be familiar to fans of Campbell's other horror. The long slow build up, the easy going and yet somehow obtuse prose style, the way the protagonist is constantly challenged and mistrusted by every character he encounters by chance. And the protagonist that becomes more distanced from those he knows and loves the more he tries to convince them of the strangeness of what he believes himself to be uncovering.
This story centres around a young boy entering adolescence in early 1950s Liverpool. We see how his childhood friends are changing as he struggles to maintain his idea of what their friendship means. We see how he increasingly questions his parents and school teachers and the unquestioning obedience to authority and the dogma of their religious beliefs. And we see how his unbridled curiosity leads him to begin to distrust one particular school teacher whose actions seem ever more weird and mysterious.
And in the end I was left curious enough to want to read the next part of this trilogy so it must've been pretty good.
This story centres around a young boy entering adolescence in early 1950s Liverpool. We see how his childhood friends are changing as he struggles to maintain his idea of what their friendship means. We see how he increasingly questions his parents and school teachers and the unquestioning obedience to authority and the dogma of their religious beliefs. And we see how his unbridled curiosity leads him to begin to distrust one particular school teacher whose actions seem ever more weird and mysterious.
And in the end I was left curious enough to want to read the next part of this trilogy so it must've been pretty good.
February 20, 2021
The Searching Dead by Ramsey Campbell is the first in a trilogy. I’m so excited to keep reading this story. Ramsey Campbell writes horror in a way that is so inspiring. I feel like this is how horror should be!
This is a slow building story that builds tension as you read. I feel like this allows us to get to know the characters, and understand the plotline. The characters are really well written and I think they felt real.
This is a coming of age story along with horror. As said, this is a slow build, but when the story gets going, it gets going.
Overall, I loved this book and would definitely recommend it. I’m looking forward to reading more!
*I received a free copy of this book from Random Things Tours to review honestly on the blog tour. All opinions are my own and unbiased.*
This is a slow building story that builds tension as you read. I feel like this allows us to get to know the characters, and understand the plotline. The characters are really well written and I think they felt real.
This is a coming of age story along with horror. As said, this is a slow build, but when the story gets going, it gets going.
Overall, I loved this book and would definitely recommend it. I’m looking forward to reading more!
*I received a free copy of this book from Random Things Tours to review honestly on the blog tour. All opinions are my own and unbiased.*
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